Aurora
by Rap541
Summary: A dead battlestar looks like an opportunity... but what's inside?
1. Chapter 1

"Aurora"

It wasn't that Kara Thrace didn't want to fly a patrol. She loved flying. She loved flying more than she loved anything else left in the universe. She hated tedious patrols however. Endless hours of sitting in the cockpit, staring at the dark of space…. She had no love for that. She wasn't afraid to admit it, she was a combat junkie. Ten hour patrols bored the hell out of her, especially long range patrols, but they had to be done, even if they were mind numbingly dull.

" We're almost to the turn around point," she said into the wireless. " Racetrack, do a final scan and then we'll head back to base." Back to the endless grind that was life on the Galactica, but things could be worse. She had a card game planned. Hotdog was holding a bottle of aged ambrosia and she planned to win it.

" Doing final scan," Racetrack said. Kara looked over to the Raptor. Racetrack was good, better than she would have expected when she first met the woman. Sometimes it was hard to believe that it hadn't even been a year since the twelve colonies had been destroyed. Racetrack hadn't even been flying for that long, but it didn't show. Not any more.

"Seems pretty quiet out this way," Lee Adama said over the wireless. His viper, one of the last Mark 7's, shifted into her view. " We can send the fleet this way with no problem. That's a switch."

Inside the cockpit of her Viper, Kara nodded. It would, baring an attack that led to an emergency jump, take the slow moving fleet almost a month to reach so far. She sighed. It was a long way to come for nothing. They hadn't found anything interesting in the scans, not even any big rocks to avoid. Just another dull part of the universe, she thought with a sigh.

" I've got something!" Racetrack called. " It's big! It's…." There was a long pause. " It looks like a battlestar…."

Kara felt herself tense up and willed herself to relax. It hadn't been so long ago that the Pegasus had turned up and it hadn't ended well. Another battlestar? Was another problem, and it wasn't like Racetrack was whooping for joy. " What have you got, Racetrack?"

There was a long pause. " It's a battlestar but… I'm getting a reading on the metal, not an energy spike. I've never seen anything like it."

" Apollo, let's take a look." She kicked in the turbos before Lee replied. In seconds, she was honing in on the readings that Racetrack had picked up.

"Dammit," Lee said. Kara agreed silently. It was a battlestar. Not as new as the Pegasus, but definitely not as old as the Galactica. It was a dead ship. She had seen such ships before.

" She's been holed. Look at the starboard side." Kara maneuvered her viper over the dead behemoth. "It's hard to spot but there's a crash site. Do you see it?"

"Burn marks right over the center. They suicided into the center of the ship." Lee spoke softly. " If the Cylons used their virus program, the crew wouldn't have even had time to launch. The Cylons would have shut the ship down and then holed them to be careful. Bastards. We better head back and let the commander know."

Kara nodded as she flew a pass over the ship. " Got the name… the Aurora. Wasn't she out on deep exploration?"

" The Battlestar Aurora was commissioned twenty years ago. She had a crew of 1500, and over two hundred Vipers attached. Her armaments include nuclear missiles and traditional armament. She left the Sagitarron docks eight months before the attack on the colonies and was on a five year exploration mission." Gaeta looked down at his briefing papers nervously. " The recon photos and scans indicate that the ship hull was pierced and rapidly lost atmosphere. If the damage isn't severe, it would be relatively easy to repair the hull and restart the life support. Anything beyond that… we would need more information."

Adama leaned back in his chair. The Aurora had been a good ship, with a good commander and crew. He didn't hold out much hope that she could be brought back from the dead and returned to service. That was expecting too much. However, it was possible that she could give the fleet tons of badly needed supplies. Even if they salvaged just a few of the Vipers, that gave the Galactica weapons it badly needed. Decompressing the ship was a vicious Cylon maneuver, but it did leave valuable supplies in a frozen state. They could use the firepower of another battlestar, they needed it badly, but he doubted the Aurora was in a repairable state.

" The fleet is three and a half weeks from the Aurora." Lee paced around the briefing room, and pointed at one of the large diagrams he and the crew had made. The crew was bizarrely excited about the find. Adama understood it in a way. He just hoped they weren't too crushed when it became obvious that the battlestar was not in any shape to join the fleet. Lee pointed to one of the pictures of the damage. " I am proposing that we send a team ahead of the fleet to begin the salvage and access the damage. We can get the life support systems running, get an inventory on useful supplies and possibly even start supply runs back to the fleet." Lee looked around at the amassed officers and at the president and vice president. " This is a valuable opportunity for us. I don't need to tell you how desperate we are for resupply."

" What about getting the Aurora running?" President Roslin leaned forward in her seat. Adama looked her over carefully. She seemed tired, but interested. It made him reconsider the idea. He felt it was risky to send a salvage team ahead. They needed every single trained soldier they had to keep the fleet running and protected. Lee wanted a minimum of ten people and a Raptor, and skilled, irreplaceable people at that. If something went wrong, those ten people represented a loss that the Galactica could ill afford to handle.

On the other hand, the crew needed hope and the Aurora represented supplies that would keep the fleet going. If they didn't send a team ahead, the salvage would be rushed, and there would be no chance to see if the Aurora could fly again. Without life support and engines restarted, it would be next to impossible to get much other than the compliment of Raptors off the ship. The reality was that they could ill afford to let the opportunity pass by. Even a few Raptors full of food and water would help the fleet.

And Laura was interested. That had been happening less often as of late. He gestured to Lee. " This would be strictly a voluntary mission. I don't want anyone pressured to go."

Lee smiled. That was something he had missed, for a long time. " Sir, I already have had a list of over two hundred people willing to go. That's more than I can fit in one Raptor."

" Let's hear more, then." He wasn't going to let excitement override sense. If it was too dangerous, it wasn't going to happen, regardless of how many people volunteered.

" I'll need a few pilots. That'll be myself, Starbuck, Helo, and Racetrack. I also need an engineering team. Gaeta and Dualla have experience with the life support and computer systems, and Tyrol, Cally, and Jammer will handle mechanical work and help inventory supplies. Dr. Cottle agreed to give us Seelix as long as we let her salvage medical supplies and I've got Venner, Davids, and Zarrell for firepower, inventory, and technical work." Lee pointed to one of the diagrams. " If the damage is just a hull breach, we're confident life support can be restored in hours. If not, we're back on the Galactica before our suits run out of air."

" The first priority is life support," Gaeta added helpfully. " We'll start assessing the ship and preparing the salvage once that's done. Just the ammunition alone makes this worth the risk."

"Not to mention the spare parts," Kara said quickly. " And its unlikely but if the ship isn't in bad shape…."

"That's the least of the priorities," Lee broke in before Tigh could scoff.

" But it does have a certain charm…." Roslin said softly. She looked at Adama. " Of course this is a military decision…. But I do approve of this mission. I think the fleet needs something like this. It will give the people something to look forward to for the next few weeks. And with no Cylon activity, it's not that risky."

It was an unnecessary risk, Adama thought, but as he looked at everyone's faces, faces filled with excitement, he didn't have the heart to say no.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the waiting and not knowing that made Lee Adama nervous. Flying a viper blind into a Cylon mine was nerve wracking but not as nerve wracking as sitting in a parked Raptor wondering what his team members were up to. It wasn't that he didn't trust the people that were currently assessing the damage on the Aurora, in fact they had been chosen by him precisely because they were the best that the Galactica had. It was just that he preferred action. Instead, he had to rely on the team and as much he trusted them, he still would have preferred being the first one to climb into the Aurora's wrecked carcass.

That dubious honor had gone to Chief Tyrol and Specialist Cally, followed by Helo, Venner, and then Gaeta and Dualla, leaving the rest of them to sit and stew. The chief was supposed to access the physical damage and see if the damaged area could be sealed off. Cally was to help him and Helo and Venner had volunteered to assist with the heavy lifting since it would involve manually closing the safety airlock doors. Gaeta and Dualla were to start checking the power systems. The whole salvage mission depended on both teams being successful. Worse, both teams had to be successful in a very short time frame or else they would have to head back with nothing to show for the effort. If Tyrol couldn't seal off the damaged areas, or if Gaeta couldn't get the ship systems on line, the mission would fail.

"How about an update?" he said into the wireless in his helmet. Things had been pretty quiet. Everyone else still in the Raptor looked up with interest. They were getting bored and as the minutes ticked away, they were getting worried as well. They all knew the time frame involved. If the holes couldn't be sealed in time, or the life support systems brought back on line soon, the mission ended.

" We're almost done with the last door," Tyrol's voice crackled with static. " Cally is sealing up the holes. Fortunately it looks like they were happy to let the air out. Just enough to blow the hull. I'll make sure all the patches are reinforced but she's almost sealed, sir."

That was good news. Lee doubted that the ship could be brought back to battle status but if the damage wasn't extensive, then it was a positive. " That's good news, Chief. Lt. Gaeta, what's the status on life support?"

" Just waiting on the chief right now, sir," came the reply. " No one ever kicked on the back ups when the ship was attacked. The air will be breathable in about a half hour once we turn on the back ups and we'll have emergency lighting, but I recommend everyone keeping flight suits on and handy. The backup systems are disconnected from main so they aren't affected by the Cylon virus but they'll only run so long. The main systems will be a lot harder to bring on line." Gaeta paused. " The back up power will last for three, possibly four days and I can divert some power to the port landing deck so we'll be able to do some salvage even if main power can't be restored."

Lee allowed himself a moment to feel relief. Even a few days meant weapons, food, and fresh Vipers for the fleet. He wanted the full three weeks, but three days made the mission a success. If Tyrol could close off all of the holes. And that seemed likely. Things were going well. It was hard to believe that anything could go well any more. He could remember, and at times even laugh, about how stressed out he had felt over things like bills and relationships. He didn't even know how to relate to such minutia any more.

" Last door is hard sealed," Tyrol chimed.

" Thank you, Chief. Go ahead and flip the on switch, Lt. Gaeta." Lee ignored Gaeta's reply and turned his attention to the crew remaining in the Raptor. " All right, I know everyone was listening in. Racetrack, you stay here with the Raptor until we're certain the air situation is stable. Lt. Thrace, Corporals Davids, and Zarrell, you're with me. Jammer, you will join the chief and send Lt. Agathon to us. The chief and his crew will continue reinforcing the repairs while we head down to the landing deck. Seelix, you'll stay with us until I'm certain the ship is secure. Right now we're looking at a three day window which means we're focusing on the most vital needs of the fleet. That means checking the Raptors out, getting them fueled and ready to fly and packing them to the brim with as much weaponry as we can find. Then food and parts for the Vipers and Raptors and vital medical and electronic supplies. Everyone keeps their suits on and helmets within hand reach, and there will be no side trips." He made sure to glare at everyone there. If they were able to get main power up, then he would be a little more amiable about people engaging in personal salvage. It didn't sound like the Aurora was all that safe and he had no intention of having someone lose their life over finding new towels or extra clothes.

He was the first down the hole they had cut into the deck. Once they were certain that the landing deck was going to get powered up, Racetrack would detach the Raptor from the hull, and land it in the landing bay. Until then, she was their ride out of there. He didn't mind leaving her alone. Racetrack was a steady hand, as steady as could be expected in their post holocaust world.

It was darker than he expected. The emergency lighting was dim and even through the helmet he could hear the pounding of metal on metal. The chief was very good at what he did, but Lee was more than happy to let him spend as much time as he wanted plugging up holes. He could see signs of patching everywhere. He nodded as Jammer left the pack to follow the sound of repairs. He glanced down at his copy of the ship schematics. Gaeta and Dualla were supposed to be in the back up life support hub.

And they were, with panels pried off. Gaeta had his hands deep in a panel, with Dualla holding small electrical tools that they had brought. It was odd to see two people that he always associated with the CIC in flight suits, but he let the amusement pass as Dualla looked sharply at him. Best to get down to business, he decided.

" I want you to give a signal when the air is breathable," he said. " Then I want updates on the hour. We need as much time as possible."

"The virus definitely did the bulk of the damage," Gaeta said as he withdrew himself from the electric panels. " I may be able to take down the hard drive if the computers still respond to the fleet overrides. If that works, then the start up will go pretty smooth. If not, then I can't promise anything. Dualla and I are going to need to go up to the CIC in order to be effective."

" How long will this take?" The Aurora was just a little bit bigger than the Galactica, but it was a hike to the CIC. If there was a serious problem, Dualla and Gaeta would be the farthest from the safety of their escape Raptor. As far as he was concerned, the mission wasn't worth anyone dying.

Gaeta blinked. " Maybe an hour. If it goes smoothly."

" I want updates as soon as you know more. Both of you, keep the wireless open in your helmets." He made sure to be forceful. Neither went on missions normally, and while he trusted both, the reflexes and instincts needed to work flawlessly in the CIC didn't always translate to combat. Not that they were in combat, but the possibility existed. Until he was certain that the ship wasn't going to kill them, either by Cylon trick or simple malfunction, he didn't want anyone to get complacent. " We'll be down on the port landing deck."

He took the lead on the walk down to the landing deck. The dimly lit corridors were surprisingly empty. It seemed odd, he had expected more signs of a fight. The decompression would have blown the bodies out of the area nearest the holes in the hull, but there were hardly any signs that the ship had ever held a crew at all.

"It's like a ghost ship," Zarrell muttered. Lee didn't acknowledge it, but he saw several nods of agreement.

" I hope you weren't expecting something different," he said. " We all knew coming in that this was a dead ship."

" I expected more bodies," Kara offered from the rear. " You know, artfully decorating the hallways. Like in one of those scary videos where the dead come back to life."

" Just be glad we're not in one of those videos," Lee said. The landing bay had several entrances according to the map, and it followed the pattern of the Galactica, if somewhat more modern. Of course, Lee thought darkly, it was that modern technology that had destroyed the ship.

And the port landing bay was the first real sign that the Aurora had gone down fighting. There were bodies littered everywhere. Most had sidearms and even in the dim light Lee could guess what had happened. The ship had been attacked, an alert had been called… and then the virus struck. The dead were mostly concentrated around the emergency gear. It had to have been quick, he realized. Only a few had donned masks or flight suits. He didn't consider them to be the lucky ones, all things considered.

He shook that thought off. " All right. We all know the clock is ticking. Zarrell, Davids, there are weapons storage rooms right over there. Every bullet counts. Seelix, there's storage lockers down near that row of Vipers. Start pulling the supplies. Starbuck and I will start bringing up the Raptors." The Raptor was a good design, a workhorse, but cold starting one after months of idleness was going to be difficult.

The nearest Raptor had a dead pilot and ECO inside. They had apparently decided to use the remaining air for a last fling. " Well," Kara said, a grim smile on her face, " isn't that nice? Good to know fraternization was alive and well here too."

He chose to ignore it, satisfying himself with a long glare in her direction. They didn't have time for joking around. They went to work and he was pleasantly surprised that the Raptor came on line quickly. It boded well. The fleet used Raptors all of the time and while the Pegasus metal shop could pound out a Viper pretty easily, Raptors took more time. The Aurora was supposed to have twenty Raptors assigned and if they all were as easy to get up to speed, that gave them that much more time to run supplies to the fleet.

And of course, the situation just got better if main power could be restored. Which reminded him. He toggled his wireless. " Lt. Gaeta, I'd like a report."

A moment of silence. " It's only been forty minutes, sir." There was more than a touch of pique in Gaeta's voice. " However, as it happens, I have been successful in wiping the hard drive and rebooting the system."

" Then turn on the main engines, Lieutenant." The sooner he did, the sooner they knew how much time they really had.

Another moment of silence. " I suggest we turn just one of the engines on, sir. For now, it is safer. Let it run, make sure it'll stay up before we do more. Turning on all of the power on a cold start can be… potentially bad."

That was nicely ominous, Lee thought. " Could you define that more clearly?"

" The electric pulse of a massive cold start could fry everything. Or not. I don't recommend testing it, sir." Gaeta spoke as calmly as if he was looking at an empty dradis screen.

" Just one engine then. Then you and Dualla need to access the FTL drive." Lee turned off the wireless. All around the Raptor, the lights flickered on. He could also hear the air scrubbers start to hum. He turned the wireless back on, pulling in all the channels. " All right people, it looks like we have power and more time for now. Keep flight suits on and helmets near. As soon as we're sure the power is stable, I'll reassess the mission priorities."

He let himself enjoy the moment. So far, everything seemed to be working. The fleet needed a success. Turning on the lights on the Aurora was a good start.

Of course, it wasn't until later that he realized that someone else saw the lights go on.


End file.
